Tennis racket hand positioning structure

ABSTRACT

A structure, either an integral part of or an attachment to a tennis racket handle, including an upstanding backhand thumb-stop with a planar surface at a predetermined angle to the plane of the head of the racket, this planar surface being adapted to accept the pressure of the player&#39;&#39;s thumb when the racket is held in a backhand position and transmit this pressure to the handle in order to facilitate gripping the racket in the proper backhand position and to enable a player to more forcibly strike a tennis ball.

United States Patent 1191 Wright 1 June 18, 1974 [54] TENNIS RACKET HAND POSITIONING 2,932,982 4/1960 Enders 74/557 T TU 2,993,256 7/1961 Muhlcgg 24/278 [76] I t Do am W ht 26333 B 11 3,256,023 6/1966 Frazelle 273/165 nven or: n rig e e pone, Harbor City, Cam 90710 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 952,859 5/1949 France 273/76 [22] Flled: 6, 1972 17,501 8/1908 Great Britain..

868,590 5/1961 Great Britain 24/278 [21] Appl' No" 232,065 211,792 2/1924 Great Britain 273/75 Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 145,379, May 20, Primary a ne -Anton 0. Oechsle 1971, abandoned. Assistant Examiner-Richard J. Apley Attorney, Agent, or Firm-John Holtrichter, Jr. [52] US. Cl. 273/75 7 [51] Int. Cl. A63b 49/00, A63b 49/08 [57] ABSCT [58] Field of Search 273/73 J, 29 A, 81 B, 81.4, A Structure either an ime I gral part of or an attach- 273/ 24/278 74/557 ment to a tennis racket handle, including an upstanding backhand thumb-stop with a planar surface at a [56] References C'ted predetermined angle to the plane of the head of the U IT D S A S PATENTS racket, this planar surface being adapted to accept the 972,489 10/1910 Adams 24/278 X pressure of the players thumb when the racket is held 1,075,054 10/1913 Morley 273/165 in a backhand position and transmit this pressure to 1,694,992 12/1928 Stoeffler 273/ 165 the handle in order to facilitate gripping the racket in the proper backhand position and to enable a player e c er 2,223,437 12/1940 Yeager 273/165 to more forclbly Smke a tenms 2,710,190 6/1955 2 Cl, 17 Drawing Figures Schimansky 273/81.4 X

3.817521 SHEEF 3 BF 4 PATENTEDJuu w a m Fig. 16.

PATENTEB-III m4 3311.521

SHEET l UF 4 H9 Fig. 14.

TENNIS RACKET HAND POSITIONING STRUCTURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The background of the invention will be set forth in two parts.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention pertains generally to the field of sports implements, and more particularly to tennis rackets and structure enhancing their use.

2. Description of the Prior Art Over the years, many devices and structures have been devised to aid a player in using and controlling sports implements. Most of these structures and constructions have been designed to aid golfers in properly holding a golf club. Many are attachments which are removably held to the handle portion of a club and nearly all include contoured portions adapted to conform to a players hands and fingers so as to properly position the same on the club. These configurations are specifically designed to inhibit the gripping of such a club in other than a single position in order to provide the consistency necessarily required to accurately strike a golf ball. In other ,words, the gripping structure requires a golfer to always grip the club in a single predesignated manner with both hands and in no other position.

These golf club inprovements also have included thumb beds having an inclined surface of such conformation that it will comfortably accommodate the thumb of a player. It should be noted, however, that this configuration is positioned relative to the ball striking surface of the golf club so as not to transmit thumb pressure thereon to the club in order to control or otherwise deflect the ball.

Game playing improvements have also been incorporated in tennis rackets in order to aid a tennis player to properly hold his racket. One such device incorporates an L-shaped bracket that partially encircles the players hand in order to prevent the loss of grip by the player and to permit the racket to be held in a constant position. This device severely limits the ease of movement of the racket relative to the players hand which is necessary for rapidly moving the racket from a backhand to a forehand position, and vice versa.

The most common gripping aid found on tennis rackets is a resilient sleeve and the like on the racket handle to allow for a more reliable grip by a player. Variations of this basic design include spiral depressions in the gripping portion of the tennis racket handle into which a tennis player-s fingers may reside.

In all of these constructions, both as to tennis and golf implements, none provide a configuration which causes a player's thumb to necessarily be positioned in a most desirable manner so as to accept the thumb pressure and transmit it to the racket in order to most effectively use the racket in a backhand position. Still other disadvantages of the structures known heretofore include their inability to readily be gripped alternately in the serve, forehand and backhand drive positions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the foregoing factors and conditions char- 2 acteristic of the prior art, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a new and improved tennis racket hand positioning structure.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an effective means to transmit thumb pressure to a tennis racket held in a manner to most effectively hit a tennis ball in a back hand drive.

It is also another object of the present invention to provide an improved backhand structure which is detachable from conventional tennis rackets.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a hand positioning structure for a tennis racket which includes both a backhand stop and a forehand index finger separator structure, and which allows a hand to readily move from one grip to another.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tennis racket hand positioning structure requiring less hand pressure to maintain a firm grip causing less physical fatigue and thus allowing individuals whose physical strength is not great to participate in a sport which might otherwise be difficult or impossible for them.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a tennis racket hand positioning structure which, because of a more constant hand position relative to the racket, allows a player to better judge the position of the racket in relationship to the desired angle of contact with the ball.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a detachable backhand positioning structure which allows the hand to be readily moved from one hand position to another without interference.

According to the present invention, an improved tennis racket hand positioning structure for use with a tennis racket having a broad head portion and a handle extending therefrom, includes a positioning arrangement fixedly positionable on the handle of a tennis racket and includes an upstanding backhand thumbstop with a planar surface at a pre-determined angle to the plane of the rackets head portion to transmit thumb pressure applied on the planar surface to the handle. The planar surface may be at an angle of approximately 40 with respect to the plane of the head portion of the tennis racket, and the positioning arrangement may include means for attaching the positioning arrangement to the handle of the tennis racket, this means including a strap with a loop portion positionable about the tennis racket handle.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The present invention, both as to its organization, manner of operation, and use, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by making reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the following drawings in which like reference characters refer to like components in the several views.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the handle portion of a tennis racket showing a backhand embodiment of the present invention held in a position for a backhand drive;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a portion of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end view, partially in section, of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front view of another backhand embodiment of the present invention which is an integral part of the tennis racket;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side elevational view of still another embodiment of the present invention illustrating a forehand grip on a structure incorporating the backhand features of the embodiment of FIG. 1 and also an index finger separator for a forehand drive grip;

FIG. 6 is a front view of an embodiment of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a partial view of the embodiment of FIG. 5, as seen from the opposite side;

FIG. 8 illustrates a backhand grip on the backhandforehand embodiment of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary side view of an additional embodiment of the invention which is similar to the backhand-forehand structure shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 10 is a partial view of the hand positioning structure similar to that shown in FIG. 8, but illustrating that tape may hold down the palm portion and that the lower end rest portion is not needed;

FIGS. 11, 12, and 13 are respectively right side, top and left side views of a hand positioning structure in accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention for aiding a tennis players backhand grip;

FIG. 14 is an end view, partially in section, of the embodiment of FIGS. 1 1-13, and illustrating an additional means for attaching the structure to a tennis racket handle;

FIG. 15 is an end view of the structure of FIG. 11-13 positioned in place on the handle of a tennis racket but without the holding straps; and

FIGS. 16 and 17 illustrate the use of the embodiment seen in FIGS. 11-15 in a backhand and forehand position, respectively.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the figures, and more particularly to FIGS. l-3, there is shown a portion of a tennis racket handle 11 to which is detachably affixed by upper and lower straps 13 and 15 a backhand grip positioning structure 17. The structure 17 includes an upper thumb stop portion 19, a central elongated portion 21, and a lower end rest portion 23. In this embodiment, the upper thumb stop portion 19 is provided with a transverse slot 25 through which the upper strap 13 passes. Likewise, a transverse slot 27 is provided in the lower end rest portion 23 to accommodate the lower strap 15 which also encircles the handle 11.

The gripping structure 17 is detachably affixed onto the handle 11 by appropriately turning screws 29 and 31 in in the thumb stop and end rest portions 19 and 23, respectively. This action causes the overlapped portions of the straps 13 and to 15 to bend at their point of contact with the screws and to tighten the straps. A more detailed view of the action of the screws on the straps is shown in FIG. 3. Although only the lower strap 15 is illustrated, the upper strap 13 is in a similar configuration with the ends of the straps overlapping as shown and the outer ends thereof bent inwardly into a depression in the structure 17.

The thumb stop portion 19 is upstanding and includes a generally triangular broad surface 33 at a predetermined angle with respect to the face 35 of the racket, as depicted in FIGS. 2 and 5. It will be noted that thumb 37 of the players hand 39 does not merely rest on the surface 33, but actually pushes against the surface in order to transmit the strong force provided by the thumbs pressure to the tennis racket through the handle 11. Although not critical, an angle of approximately 40 is preferred between the plane of the surface 33 and that of the racket face 35.

The thumb stop portion 19 also functions to correctly position the players hand 39 for a most advantageous backhand grip. This feature insures accuracy and repeatability in striking a tennis ball. The thumb stop portion 19 may be fabricated from both natural occurring and synthetic materials. Thus, such materials such as wood and plastic materials may be used, the former requiring a shaping process and the latter a molding process. This portion may also be formed with a cavity 41 behind the broad surface 33 in order to lessen the weight of the device, or the unit may be solid.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the central elongated portion 21 is relatively thin and is an integral part of the thumb stop portion 19, extending downwardly along the handle from a backside 43 of the latter portion. On the other hand, the lower end rest portion 23 is in the form of a separate block with tapered sides 45 and downwardly extending side rails 47v to conform to the sloping sides 49 of the handle 11 (See FIG. 3). Before the lower strap 15 is tightened by the screw 31, the end rest portion 23 may be moved along the central elongated portion to a position to comfortably hold the players hand 39 between its front sloping surface 51 and the backside 43 of the thumb stop portion 19 when the racket is held in a forehand grip position.

The end rest portion is not absolutely necessary for the operation of the backhand grip structure, and in an embodiment incorporating the thumb stop portion 19A as an integral part of the handle 11 A, the elongated portion and the end rest portion are not incorporated in the gripping structure 17A as illustrated in FIG. 4. It should also be noted from this embodiment that the customary leather or synthetic material handle cover 53 may also be included for better gripping characteristics. In this regard, the broad thumb stop surface 33 (FIG. 2) and 33A may be scribed or etched or otherwise provided with a cross-hatching to prevent the thumb from slipping.

With reference to the backhand-forehand embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 5-8, a gripping structure 61 includes an upper thumb stop portion 63, a central elongated portion 65, and a lower end rest portion 67 along with an upstanding index finger separator member 69 describing an index finger trough 71 between the member 69 and a backside surface 73 of the thumbstop portion 63.

The backhand-forehand gripping structure 61 is detachably fastened to a grip end 75 of a conventional tennis racket handle 77 by use of upper and lower straps 79 and 81 and screws 83 and 85, in the manner described for the device shown in FIG. 1. When the grip end 75 of the racket is held in the backhand grip shown by the dashed outline of the hand 87 in FIG. 8, the index finger member 69 and the trough 71 fonned thereby play no part in the operation of the racket. However, when the player rotates the handle from a forehand drive (F IG. 5), his thumb 89 leaves the broad thumb stop surface 91 and his index finger 93 necessarily enters further into the trough 71, and because of the thickness of the base portion 95 of the member 69, the index finger 93 is separated from the remaining fingers 97 to form a well-known shake hands forehand grip.

Similar to the unitized backhand structure shown in FIG. 4, a backhand-forehand gripping structure 61A is made an integral part of the rackets handle as seen in FIG. 9. Thus, no straps or elongated central and end rest portions need be used. In this configuration as well as in the other dual functioning gripping structure, the surface of the index finger trough may be provided with an irregular texture such as a 60 cross-hatching, for example, to enhance the players grip on the handle.

FIG. illustrates another embodiment of the invention similar to that shown in FIGS. 5-8, but utilizing conventional plastic adhesive tape 99 to anchor the central elongated portion 65 to handle 77, without the use of the lower endrest portion 67. Of course, the same principle may be used with the embodiment seen in FIGS. 1-3. Further, the leather or plastic handle cover material may be used to hold the elongated portion 65 instead of the tape 99.

Referring now to FIGS. 11-17, there is shown a hand positioning structure 10] designed to aid a tennis player in his backhand grip. The structure 101 is removably attached to a tennis racket handle 103 by means of a band or strap 105 passing through transverse slots 107 and being tightened thereat by a screw 109, as best seen in FIG. 14. Unlike the strap configuration shown in FIG. 3, an additional wedge or built up portion 111 is provided adjacent an inner end 113 of the strap 105 to prevent any possibility of the strap loosening its grip on the handle 103. The band or strap 105 may be provided with dished-out sections 115 to increase the gripping characteristic of the strap on the leather covered handle 103. Of course, other techniques such as holes and indentations may be provided in order to accomplish the same end. The backhand structure 101 is similar to the previously described structure 17 and includes a thumb stop portion 119 with a generally triangular broad surface 121 disposed at a pre-determined angle with respect to the face of the racket. In a backhand drive, the users thumb pushes against this surface which transmits this strong force to the tennis racket through the handle 103. As in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-3, the angle this surface makes with the plane of the racket face is preferably approximately 40.

The thumb stop portion 119 also functions to correctly position the players hand for a most advantageous backhand grip and insures that the player will invariably use the same backhand grip position even though he must repeatedly move back and forth between forehand and backhand grips. It will further be noted that structure 101 does not in any manner interfere with the positioning of the other fingers of the players hand, no matter which grip position is used.

This fact holds for all the embodiments of the invention, unlike many of the hand-gripping structures of the prior art which allow only a single hand grip position to be used. It should further be noted that no central elongated portion is needed, as is the case with the integrally formed embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4.

The structure 101 may include a concave portion 123 behind a surface 121 and as best viewed in FIG. 14, cavity 125 is provided in the central body of the structure communicating with the transverse aperture 107 to allow room for the overlapping band portions 127 being depressed by the screw 109. The screw 109 may be of any conventional design and is preferably one having relatively widely spaced spiral grooves, generally used for sheet metal applications, the grooved shank 129 of the screw engaging the material of the structure 101 adjacent a vertical hole or passage 131.

FIGS. 16 and 17 illustrate how the hand positioning structure 101 functions to receive the full pressure from the players thumb 133 in the backhand grip (FIG. 16), and how this structure in no way interferes with any of the fingers 135 of the hand 137, including the thumb 133, in the forehand gn'p position of FIG. 17. This is accomplished by the use of the simple, yet novel structure 101, and notably without the use of any moving parts which are prone to malfunction and wear. These figures also disclose that in the preferred embodiment, one side 139 of the structure 101 extends further forward than does the other side 141. Tis is to provide at least as much contact area between the first side 139 and the handle 103 as is present between the handle and the other side 1411.

It should be further understood that the material used in fabricating the various portions and the elements of the several embodiments of the invention are not critical, and any material generally considered to be suitable for a particular function may be utilized. For example, light metals may be cast or otherwise formed to the desired shape.

From the foregoing, it should be evident that a very advantageous and novel improvement in tennis racket hand positioning structures has been described which significantly advances the art.

Although only a limited number of embodiments of the invention have been described in detail, it should be understood that other embodiments and modifications of the invention may be constructed in accordance with the teachings of this invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that the foregoing disclosure and drawings are to be considered only as illustrations of the principles of this invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A tennis racket having a broad head portion and a handle extending therefrom, comprising:

a positioning arrangement fixedly positionable on said handle and having an upstanding backhand thumb stop with a planar surface at a predetermined angle to the plane of said head portion for allowing the holding of said handle in more than one grip and for transmitting thumb pressure applied on said planar surface to said handle in one of said selected grips, said positioning arrangement includes means for attaching said positioning arrangement to said handle and said means includes side wall portions with a cavity formed therebetween and a hole in the top surface of said arrangement communicating with said cavity and strap accepting transverse slots formed in said side wall portions and communicating with opposite sides of said cavity, said slots being transversely aligned with said hole communicating with said cavity, and further including a strap with a loop portion positionable about said handle and with overlapping end portions extending through said slots and positioned through said cavity, said means also including a screw mounted through and threadably engaging the sides of said hole and engaging and forcing said overlapping end portions into said opening 7 8 to tighten said strap about said handle, the underlynot to pass through said one of said transverse slots. mg one of Sald Strap end Portions mcludmg a bum 2. The tennis racket according to claim 1, wherein up portion immediately adjacent one of said transverse slots at an outer surface of said arrangement, Sald loop pumon of sald strap Includes handle gnppmg said built up portion being dimensioned to anchor dished out edge ssaid one of said under lying strap end portions and 

1. A tennis racket having a broad head portion and a handle extending therefrom, comprising: a positioning arrangement fixedly positionable on said handle and having an upstanding backhand thumb stop with a planar surface at a predetermined angle to the plane of said head portion for allowing the holding of said handle in more than one grip and for transmitting thumb pressure applied on said planar surface to said handle in one of said selected grips, said positioning arrangement includes means for attaching said positioning arrangement to said handle and said means includes side wall portions with a cavity formed therebetween and a hole in the top surface of said arrangement communicating with said cavity and strap accepting transverse slots formed in said side wall portions and communicating with opposite sides of said cavity, said slots being transversely aligned with said hole communicating with said cavity, and further including a strap with a loop portion positionable about said handle and with overlapping end portions extending through said slots and positioned through said cavity, said means also including a screw mounted through and threadably engaging the sides of said hole and engaging and forcing said overlapping end portions into said opening to tighten said strap about said handle, the underlying one of said strap end portions including a built up portion immediately adjacent one of said transverse slots at an outer surface of said arrangement, said built up portion being dimensioned to anchor said one of said under lying strap end portions and not to pass through said one of said transverse slots.
 2. The tennis racket according to claim 1, wherein said loop portion of said strap includes handle gripping dished out edge portions. 